Kick-Out!! Network

Saturday, November 20, 2010

WWE Smackdown Thoughts - November 19, 2010

The theme behind tonight's episode was to hype the Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio match, which led to a very exciting night of in-ring action. Let's take a closer look.

In fact, Alberto Del Rio kicked things off on Friday, being deliciously evil, as usual. This guy is frighteningly good, just think back to those incredibly boring vignettes leading up to his debut and how much better he is with in-ring promos. His verbal sparring with MVP was fantastic as well, with MVP carrying the torch for the Legends that Del Rio disrespected on Monday and in his promo. Once again, MVP impresses me one week after boring me; the guy's inconsistent, but when he's good, he's damn good.

MVP vs. Drew McIntyre was our first Survivor Series preview, and wow, speaking of damn good, these two had a fantastic match. It's so bizarre, Dolph Ziggler's been on fire lately, but his match with MVP just didn't click for me, whereas MVP can go out there and have an awesome match with a guy like Drew McIntyre, who hasn't really done anything jaw-dropping in the ring lately. Some guys just have great chemistry, I suppose, and MVP busting out the Drive-By to win the match was a nice touch, I hope he sticks with that, because it's WAY better than the Playmaker.

Okay, I hated the Edge/Paul Bearer stuff. I know it's just wrestling, but new rule: no more kidnapping storylines. They're hokey and defy all logic, yes, even the logic involved in a show about two guys pretending to fight. I can give this stuff a pass when it's centered around Kane and The Undertaker, they're holdovers from a bygone era, but Edge kidnapping someone and holding them hostage for a week? I'm sorry, it's just stupid.

Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters was our next Survivor Series preview match, and I'm so excited that Masters got a spot on PPV, even if it is just a 10-man tag match. As I said on this week's Kick-Out!! Radio, Masters might be the most underrated Superstar of 2010 and deserves an increased role. Good match between these two, Masters put up a hell of a fight, commentary sold him like a the next big thing, and Swagger made him look like a champ, before finally turning the tables and getting the win with the Ankle Lock. Oh, and how cool was that spot when Swagger escaped the Masterlock by leaping over the top rope?

Our only non-Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio match of the evening was Kaval vs. Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match, and hey, Kaval won! The match was short, but that's okay because we got a really exciting reversal exchange and after the match, Kaval announced that he was cashing in his NXT title shot on Dolph Ziggler at Survivor Series! Once again, WWE blindsides us with the "this guy will lose a bunch of matches, then get a huge shock win" bit, but let's hope Kaval will wind up a bit bigger than the 1-2-3 Kid.

"DASHING" Cody Rhodes vs. Kofi Kingston was my pick for Match of the Night. It's clear to me now that Legacy was holding Cody back, because ever since he adopted the "DASHING" gimmick, he's entertained me more than Orton and DiBiase combined. When he gets hit in the face and turns into a Punch-Out!! villain, I'm laughing my ass off, and grabbing his jacket to look at the mirror on the back? That just sent it over the top. Kofi had the upper hand throughout a good portion of the match, but one nasty Cross Rhodes later, and DASHING picked up another win for Team Del Rio.

Seriously, we're going to torture Paul Bearer by dumping a bucket of chicken wings on him?

Main Event time! Match was scheduled to be Captain vs. Captain with Rey Mysterio taking on Alberto Del Rio, but Team Del Rio interfered, causing a quick disqualification. Team Mysterio ran in to make the save, but Teddy Long wasn't having any of it and set up a 10-man Battle Royal instead.

Main Event time, take two! The Survivor Series Battle Royal was your typical TV battle royal, fun and fast paced, but if you didn't see it, you didn't really miss anything. Big Show & Rey Mysterio won for their team, which makes me feel a lot more confident about my prediction of Alberto Del Rio winning tomorrow night.

Another rock solid episode of Smackdown highlighting what the brand does best, wrestling. I'm impressed that WWE put this much time into a single Survivor Series match, and even if the match has little in terms of consequences, it definitely got me excited to see it. Kaval vs. Ziggler was fun as well, I'm eager to see their rematch for the IC Title and I'm impressed by how much personality ol' Low-Ki has shown since jumping to WWE. My only gripe with this show was the stupid Paul Bearer kidnapping stuff, which did take up way too much time, but that's why I have a DVR! Good final show before Survivor Series and despite a hastily thrown together card, I'm stoked for the PPV.

1 comment:

This is why I watch WWE this show was about 1 thing really, wrestling with 3 matches that epitamize what the second W stands for,I don't think ive seen a character go from newbie to vital to the show as fast as Del Rio before, really quality on mic and in the ring.This show has really step up since moving to syfy

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Wrestling is fun. At least it's supposed to be. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's dumb, sometimes it's both. Kick-Out!! was founded in the spring of 2009 to celebrate the most unique form of entertainment on the planet, and to have an intelligent discussion about it through social media and professionally-produced podcasts. Hope you enjoy.